Information Governance, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER 14Information Governance for Mobile Devices

According to CTIA (The Wireless Association), “There are more than 400 million connections in America, equal to 1.2 wireless devices for every person in the country.”¹ This is a more than 100% penetration rate, since many users have more than one mobile device. Citizens of China, India, and the European Union (EU) have even greater mobile phone usage than the United States.

Mobile computing has vastly accelerated in popularity over the last decade. Several factors have contributed to this: improved network coverage, physically smaller devices, improved processing power, better price points, a move to next-generation operating systems (OS) such as Google's Android and Apple's iOS, and a more mobile workforce have fueled the proliferation of mobile devices.

Mobile devices include laptops, netbooks, tablet PCs, personal digital assistants (PDAs) like BlackBerry, and smartphones, such as Apple's iPhone and those based on Google's Android platform. What used to be simple cell phones are now small computers with nearly complete functionality, and some unique communications capabilities. These devices all link to an entire spectrum of public and private networks.

A report by IDC noted that “By 2020 mobile workers will account for nearly three-quarters (72.3 percent) of the US workforce.” This significant shift to mobile workers has gained momentum as mobile computing capabilities have improved.²

With these new types of devices and ...